Focused read in 3 minutes
“I Ran Oppo Research
Against Trump. He Has No Idea...”
🗝 Excerpts:
1.
President Donald Trump
dismissed concerns about his eldest son’s meeting with a
Kremlin-linked lawyer and a former Soviet spy promising dirt on
Hillary Clinton with a wave of his hand. “It’s called opposition
research,” he said at a news conference in Paris on Thursday. A day
earlier, the president had asserted, “I think many people would
have held that meeting.”
As a professional
opposition researcher who has been doing it for over a decade, I know
nothing is farther from the truth.
2.
During the 2016 election
cycle I was the research director at American Bridge 21st Century,
where I led the investigative efforts targeting Trump. The opposition
research department at Bridge is one of the largest in politics,
investigating Republicans at all levels of government to hold them
accountable for their actions. Even in a partisan research
environment, though, there are rules and standards.
At Bridge and everywhere
else, a simple rule governs how we work...
3.
Public records research
and tracking opponents’ statements have yielded some of the most
memorable opposition research attacks over the years.
But Trump Jr. wasn’t
offered publicly available information that had been lawfully
pursued. He was promised “high level,” “sensitive information”
from the Russian government, which opposes U.S. priorities throughout
the globe. It’s a lure that implies illicitness—information
unobtainable through overt means—and it would raise a red flag for
any good opposition researcher.
4.
Like any other political
professionals, opposition researchers have an obligation to abide by
the law and be good stewards of our electoral system. After all, we
are working to elect people to enforce and create law. That means we
must be proactive in our efforts to adhere to all rules and
regulations, including those against using foreign spies to benefit
your campaign.
5.
So what should have Donald
Trump Jr. done when he received these emails? Not taken the meeting,
for starters. And then, he should have turned the emails over to law
enforcement. But he didn’t, and now, he and his father are once
again trying to convince us that abhorrent behavior is normal.
6.
I heard one response from
the bowels of the right-wing internet alleging that the Clinton
campaign “did the same thing.” The evidence? A Politico
investigation showing the DNC gathered information from a Ukrainian
political operative. Conveniently left out, though, is that those
efforts were to expose Paul Manafort’s very problematic ties to
Russia—information that was released to the public and obtained
lawfully by a Ukrainian anti-corruption probe.
You can read more here
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
( From All-Star Comics #22,
Fall, 1944. I thought this very appropriate for today. Was shared on Armed Democrats – Meme Bucket on Facebook )
Focused Action 30 seconds
You can share my Tweet here
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→ Direct sources for Democrats:
* (Shared sources and "favorite, most informative follows" are shared with the understanding readers will apply their own critical thinking to the information they consume and that the list may change at any time for any reason. #StrongerTogether does not share lightly but -- no one is perfect!)
The Democratic Party Website
C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
US Intelligence +35 yrs | NYT Bestselling Author, Navy Senior Chief. NBC/MSNBC
Contributing editor, Vanity Fair; senior writer, Newsweek; MSNBC Contributor, New York Times bestselling author
Ari Melber
MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent | Lawyer | Writer | Emmy-winning reporter | Host of#ThePoint
Ari Berman
Author: Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America | |Writer:@thenation
→ Some of the most credible media covering the Trump administration -- at the moment:
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Thank you for Networking for Democrats today!
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
(Remember 2018...)
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Curated by Gail Mountain, with occasional personal commentary, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
( You can also find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKMTNtwits )
*
Thank you for focusing!
g., aka Democrat
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